Educators want tools to meet their mission

One of the major points in the upcoming school finance trial will focus on whether the state of Texas must spend more money on public education or simply reallocate existing dollars, says David Thompson, lead lawyer for one of the parties in the lawsuit.

David Thompson

Lawyers are already taking depositions from school superintendents, education experts and state officials for the trial scheduled to start Oct. 22 before state district Judge John Dietz in Austin.

School superintendents are painting a pretty grim picture, describing how budget cuts have resulted in staff reductions, program cuts and larger class sizes, Thompson says. . Higher academic performance standards from the new STAAR test have increased the need for remediation – but the state has provided no money for summer classes, teachers and additional tests.

During a media briefing Friday, Thompson estimated it would take “a couple thousand dollars” more per student to bring all 5 million Texas K-12 students up to a 70 percent passing standard on the STAAR test. Getting there would take at least $3 billion more per year – not counting money to cover enrollment growth. The state’s K-12 public school system grows by about 80,000 children each year.

The trial also will focus on the state’s rapidly changing demographics and ever-increasing percentage of students from low-income families. Last year, 60.3 percent of the students came from families whose income qualified children for free or reduced lunch prices. Less than half of the students came from low income families 12 years ago. The number of students from low income families has increased by 1.1 million during that period.

Children from low income families typically are more expensive to education and require more attention and more remediation. Educators welcome higher standards, Thompson says.

“Educators are up for the challenge, but most of them are saying, ‘you can’t give us the mission and then not give us the tools to accomplish the mission,’” Thompson said.

He represents the “Fort Bend ISD, et al” party, made up of the state’s eight largest school districts and 76 others. About 600 school districts representing 75 percent of the 5 million students in the public school system are involved in the lawsuit.

State lawmakers probably won’t address the school funding issue until the Texas Supreme Court rules in the case.